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December 2010
This is a response to Nick Carr’s recent piece, “The Attack on Do Not Track,” in which he goes after me for some comments I made in this essay about the trade-offs at work in the privacy and online advertising debates. In his critique of my essay, he argues: What the FTC is suggesting is [...]
Milton Mueller, Professor and Director of the Telecommunications Network Management Program at the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, discusses his new book, Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. Mueller begins by talking about Wikileaks’ recent leak of diplomatic cables, using the incident to elaborate on the meaning of internet governance. He notes the distinction between traditional centralized systems of authority and peer-produced, distributed governance that rules much of cyberspace. He also discusses global democracy, contradictions in cyber libertarian views, judicial checks and balances on the internet, and future issues in internet governance.
It’s been surprising to me that none of my TLF colleagues has yet ventured a post about this latest WikiLeaks controversy. But perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising because the Cablegate case presents some very hard questions to which there are no easy answers. I’m not sure that I know myself exactly how I feel [...]
The ACLU of Northern California says it’s time for a privacy check-in on location based-services. Their handy chart compares several of the most popular location-based services along a number of dimensions. Little of what they examine has to do with civil liberties—cough, cough, ahem (this is a favorite critique of mine for my ACLU friends)—but [...]
“The do-not-track system could put an end to the technological ‘arms race’ between tracking companies and people who seek not to be monitored.” – David Vladeck, FTC David Vladeck is right. The Do Not Track system would put an end to the technological “arms race” – but that’s not a good thing. Instead, its the [...]
As part of what Politico’s Tony Romm calls this week’s “all-out online privacy blitzkrieg,” Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) announced he would be proposing legislation aimed at better protecting kids from the supposed evils of online “tracking” and marketing. Apparently, Rep. Markey’s effort will build on the “Do Not Track” proposal that is garnering so much [...]
There’s a sharp piece by Fred Wilson in the New York Times today pointing out the benefits of online “tracking.” It’s part of a series of essays in one of their “Room for Debate” series about the FTC’s new “Do Not Track” regulatory proposal. (Our own Jim Harper also has a good essay worth reading.) [...]
In his essay today, “Go On, Opt Out. Just Don’t Come Cryin’ To Me …,” John Battelle has some very sensible thinking on the “Do Not Track” idea and privacy regulation more generally: Look, if you want to, you can put yourself on a “do not track” list in the Real World. As you walk [...]
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.